Alex Rohof

February 26, 2018

Church

AN APPRENTICESHIP IN PRAYER

Text:

Introduction:

How to approach God in prayer

Approach God relationally

Focus on your relationship with God.

Approach Him reverently

There should be a sense that we are coming before the presence of an Almighty, Holy God.

Approach Him familiarly

He is our Father. We should delight in coming to Him. He delights in us, and desires to know us, and us to know Him.

How to pray

Observe the pattern of prayer.

Jesus in said to pray after this manner.

Praise- Hallowed be thy name.

Take time to praise God for who He is.

Use the various names and titles of God to remember who He is.

This causes you to set your mind on God, and to get your mind off of your self.

Whatever issues may be in your life, recognizing God for who He is will lead you to realize that He is able to overcome any problem in your life.

Surrender- Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

This is where we yield ourselves to God and His will.

Prayer is primarily about getting God’s will done on earth.

God is certainly concerned about our needs, and will meet those needs.

However, God has a plan for our lives. Many times the problems we face can be met if we will yield to God’s plan for our life.

Petitions- Give us day by day our daily bread.

This is where you bring your various needs before God.

It is helpful to write your requests down.

I place a date beside the request, the name of the request, and have a space to put down when it was answered.

You will be amazed how many prayers God answers when you record them.

Be specific.

Some requests will not always allow specificity.

Many will allow specificity, and the more specific you are the better.

If you cannot tell if God has answered your prayer or not, try to be more specific.

Thanksgiving ought to accompany prayers.

When God answers a prayer, be sure to praise and thank Him for it.

Thanking God before He answers your prayer is also appropriate, when you know that you are asking according to His will.

This is an expression of faith. (Come back to this alex)

Focusing on the promises of God is also essential to effective prayer.

The promises of God provide confidence that God will answer our prayer.

The promises of God provide direction for prayer.

They keep you praying according to God’s will.

Confession- Forgive us our sins.

This is where you bring to God your sins and ask His forgiveness.

Ask God to search you and bring to your mind any sins that you have not confessed to Him.

Sin can and ought to be confessed as soon as possible.

But we often don’t realize when we sin, or we put it off.

Taking time to daily confess sins ensures that we have a right relationship with God each day. His mercies are new every morning (and it’s always morning somewhere).

Be specific and honest with your sins.

Do not generally confess sins.

Name what you did, and what sin or command has been broken.

If your sin was against another person, be sure to confess that sin to them as well.

Confession of sin to others causes the sin to be all the more distasteful to us.

It helps us not to desire to do that sin again, because we have to humble ourselves before others.

If you have failed to forgive someone who has sinned against you, you must forgive if you desire God to forgive you.

God clearly states that He withholds forgiveness from those who also withhold forgiveness, which is a sobering thought.

Deliverance- Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

This is where we seek God to deliver us from temptation to sin.

This is also where we ask God to protect us from the attacks of Satan.

Satan’s attacks are described as wiles.

They are mental attacks that seek to get us off the ground of truth.

They often centre upon our feelings, and are designed to get us to doubt the clear Word of God.

Don’t fall for the trap. (We are not ignorant of his devices).

Praise- For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, or ever. Amen.

We finish our time of prayer in praise, recognizing God as the one who is able to answer each prayer that we have prayed.

This once again causes us to cast our eyes upon God, and gets our focus off of our problems.

This is also a time where you may sing to God in praise.

Suggestions for prayer.

Journal prayer times.

Many have found it helpful to journal how God has led them in their daily prayer times.

At the least, record your prayers, so that you might be able to give God thanks.

Set a specific time and place.

Seek to establish a daily consistent time in prayer.

The morning is usually best, as it is the beginning of the day.

A regular place of prayer will also help to establish the habit.

Set an amount of time aside.

Break your time down into smaller increments.

Take each aspect of prayer, and focus on that aspect for the allotted time.

Example: Five minute increments

Praise- Five mins.

Surrender- Five mins.

Confession- Five mins.

Deliverance- Five mins

Petitions- Ten mins.

Thanksgiving- Five mins.

Praise- Five mins.

You may also consider taking to read your Bible at some point during this time of prayer.

George Mueller was known to pray with an open Bible before his knees.

Conclusion: Prayer is a life long apprenticeship. Every believer can grow in respect to prayer. But God has given us a pattern for prayer, and if we will follow that pattern, we can discover that it is far easier to pray than we might have thought.